Dakota Beacon

A 310-acre cornfield, six combines and grain-hauling semis -- a typical ND harvest scene.  Not this time.  SWAT teams were riding the combines.  The equipment was there to harvest an escaped prisoner.  A van used to transport federal prisoners stopped at a Tower City coffee shop and prisoner Joseph Megna escaped into a nearby cornfield.  Escorted by SWAT teams, farmers began to trim the hiding place by harvesting the corn.  One hundred acres into the job, Megna surrendered.  The Cass County Sheriff said, “God bless North Dakota, we bring everybody together to solve the problem.”

It’s getting easier and easier for people to say “I’m from ND” -- the state is an oasis of prosperity.  This may have prompted a NY Times columnist to jokingly suggest that ND Gov. Jack Dalrymple run for president.  The Herald’s Tom Dennis said this raises a question: “How much of North Dakota’s growth is oil, and how much is leadership?”  His conclusion: while oil is very important, good leadership allows the state to tap its potential.

The Tribune labeled ND’s second quarter taxable sales “just short of unbelievable.”  Sales for the quarter were up 32% over the same quarter last year.  Williston was up 75% and even Fargo, far from the oil patch, was up 8%.

A Jamestown Sun headline read “Royal Norwegians to visit N.D.”  An unfortunate reading -- the article actually indicated the opposite, that while Norway’s royal couple would be visiting Minnesota and Iowa, ND was not on the itinerary.  Minnesota is the state with the most Norwegians; ND is the state with the highest percentage of Norwegians.  People in Norway and the Midwest have misconceptions about each other.  UND’s Bruce Gjovig says Norwegians are rich and technically advanced, but are concerned that Midwesterners view Norway as a little folk museum.  Norwegians think Americans in the Midwest are all eating lefse and wearing funny hats.

It sounds like a small paradise: beautiful natural setting, excellent university, lively business district, all in all, one of the most attractive small cities in ND.  That’s how a Forum editorial describes Valley City.  Then, the Forum went on to say Valley City is a political mess -- a dysfunctional pit of divisiveness.  The Forum had no quick remedy, just head shaking.

The man is covered with tattoos, a ring dangles from his lip, he wears the obligatory beard and looks every bit like a member of a familiar subculture.  It becomes more interesting when you learn he is the son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker (remember The PTL Club).  Jay Bakker is a pastor in the Revolution Church which specializes in services for the homeless and hungry.  He visited NDSU where his volunteers slept outside at night to show solidarity with the homeless.

"I can see how it would look awful from an outside point of view.  This was the game plan well before the flood happened." -- manager of the Minot Manor Apartments explaining why rent doubled.  It did indeed look awful to the shocked tenants.  What did they get?  Only one thing -- the name of the apartments was changed to Meadowlark Heights.  The oil boom and flooding have limited apartment availability and raised rents in Minot.

The budget of the state of ND and most city and local governments are sound, but flooding has created pockets of special need.  Drainage from a FEMA temporary housing park in Minot will exaggerate a pre-existing neighborhood flooding problem.  The Ward County Water Board’s response: “We have no funds.  We are broke.”  The board wants state assistance.  The cities of Valley City and Lisbon are on the flood prone Sheyenne River.  A Valley City Commissioner said, “We were inches away from a Minot this summer.”  The cities are financially tapped out, but desperately need permanent flood protection.  They too want the state to help out.

Farmers hop on and off tractors, in and out of pickups -- it’s all part of their daily job.  Seat belts, are you kidding?  I’m just guessing, but I think this carries over and partially explains the reluctance of rural Nodaks to wear seat belts once they hit the highway.  It’s too bad.  In early October, Stephanie Theis of Carrington made a left turn with a semi trailer into the path of William Trecker Jr., also of Carrington.  Trecker died, Theis was injured, neither wore a seat belt.

Their time has come.  A hundred years ago wooden grain elevators sprouted in most small ND towns.  Travelers in ND were rarely out of sight of a prairie elevator.  The elevators gave towns a visual identity and were often the main business.  Most elevators have reached the end of their useful life -- they are rotting, caving and are either going or gone.  The Forest River Colony of Hutterites specializes in elevator demolition.  They salvage a few choice timbers, but the biggest part of the buildings go onto burn piles.  Windsor (15 miles w. of Jamestown) is the latest to lose its elevator.

WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?  Columnist Lloyd Omdahl says the 2010 census was a little too early to catch the oil boom -- western ND may be hurt when when state and federal benefits are shared based on the census . . . Tribune columnist Ken Rogers says the oil boom and its fallout (fires, spills, traffic, accidents and crime) will be a big issue in the next political cycle . . . Trib columnist Clay Jenkinson: “you can kiss the civic centers goodbye” -- fabulous home electronics are stealing audiences . . . Forum columnist Andrea Halgrimson said the F-M Open Forum was huge from 1930 to 1967 -- the public forum featured national and world figures -- Eleanor Roosevelt’s talk at the ND Agricultural College in 1953 was the biggest audience.

DAKTOIDS:  The Killdeer vs. Watford City high school football game was canceled -- indirectly a victim of the oil boom.  No bus drivers . . . The Duluth News Tribune says Minnesotans are flocking to ND for duck hunting and fishing -- imagine that! 

The Fighting Sioux image is called one of the most attractive logos in American sports.  Bennett Brien, a member of the Turtle Mt. Chippewa and creator of the emblem, said, “It’s not like a ‘Gopher’ or a ‘Badger’ – it’s way above that,” Brien said, “The ‘politically correct’ people misinterpreted it.”  He said the Indian man depicted in the design is focused and determined, and “the feathers stand for the brave and honorable things you do in life, whether you are a Sioux warrior from before or a student today trying to get an education.”  

“All the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average” -- the fictional village of Lake Wobegon is a standard part of Garrison Keillor’s weekly patter.  An article in the GF Herald says the idealized vision of small towns is itself a fiction: “The small town of legend has largely passed . . . small-town children are exposed to the same Internet, the same games and pop music as city kids . . . its people shop in the same chain stores . . . eat in the same chain restaurants as those in the suburbs.”  Many of the differences in values have disappeared.  As ND farms get larger and more mechanized, there is no longer the same reliance on neighbors.  Today, some neighborhoods in cities and suburbs may actually be tighter knit. 

The Fargo Forum cheered a USDA Rural Development report that ND “received a total of $969 million last year in direct loans, guaranteed loans and grants.”  Jasper Schneider, the Rural Development director in ND, said his agency was “one of the best-kept secrets in North Dakota.”  The Forum viewed the largesse as an unmitigated good, saying: “The federal dollars have been put to good use in the state.”  The ND Data Center confirmed that in 2009 the state received $13,000 per capita in federal money compared to a national average of $10,000.  A GF Herald reader noted that many short-term federal programs had become permanent, but now the budget crisis requires that people must be “weaned” from those programs.

The Bismarck Tribune said USDA programs create a conflict -- Nodaks like their new infrastructure, but know it adds to federal debt which must come down.  The Tribune implied that some USDA projects would not have been built if Nodaks had to pay the bill themselves.

Me too!  When the people of Ft. Ransom (70) learned that USDA had given Buffalo $70,000 for a community grocery store, they wanted the same.  The mayor said they lost their only restaurant, and were at risk of losing the post office and town bank.

“This is War” -- Kurt Zellers, speaker of the Minnesota House, in response to South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard’s pitch aimed at Minnesota businesses.  The governor said, “Tired of taxes?  Call me.”  SD’s efforts have led to 50 prospects in a month.  Zellers was raised on a farm in the Grand Forks area and was a member of the UND football team. 

A Foster County (Carrington) commissioner called it a disaster.  The county received 20 inches of rain in a three-week period in early August, some locations received 30 inches.  Estimates are 15 to 20 percent of the wheat in the county is drowned.  In some cases, washed out roads make it difficult or impossible to get to crops.  It’s not bad for everyone, implement dealers are installing tracks on combines at $60,000 to $70,000 a crack.

American Crystal Sugar is the nation’s largest beet sugar producer with factories up and down the Red River Valley.  The company made what seemed like a generous offer to its employees: an immediate raise of 8 percent and payment of 83 percent of health insurance.  However, the offer also loosened job security and employees declined the offer.  American Crystal responded with a union lockout.  GF Herald economist Ralph Kingsbury made a lengthy analysis of the issue and seemed to be coming down on the side of the union saying “Is that any way to treat your neighbors?”  He then did an about face, concluding that American Crystal has to dramatically cut its costs to deal with a possible end to the U.S. sugar program.  “They have no choice.”

The publisher was fired -- the editor resigned.  Controversy at the Valley City Times-Record mirrors the city it serves.  In the past year, Valley City has faced scandal in city government and disagreements about perpetual flooding.

A new $155 million levee in Devils Lake promises permanent flood protection.  How can that be?  Nothing worked in the past.  Well, it may be true this time -- before the water reaches the top of the new levee, the lake will overflow into the Sheyenne Valley.

There’s money to be made in western ND if you have a truck -- load it high and drive it as long as it runs.  An inspection in Mountrail and Williams counties, the two largest oil producing counties, determined that 1 in 4 (57 of 224) trucks were unfit to be on the road.  Of those, 26 exceeded weight limits.  Nearly all the defective vehicles were involved in oil work.

Now it’s really Skunk Bay Road.  A truck carrying 2,400 gallons of oil overturned near Mandaree on Bureau of Indian Affairs Road 10, otherwise known as Skunk Bay Road.  This type of accident is becoming more frequent as oil traffic increases and roads deteriorate.

It’s not the money -- it’s the weather.  Road repair and construction in ND is well-funded, but landslides, flooding and rain are delaying work.  In mid-August, the Dept. of Transportation was behind schedule -- only 28 percent of the work had been completed on 280 projects.  DOT director Francis Ziegler said some of the work will have to wait until 2012.

Watch out, here they come!  With global warming, certain creatures are moving north at the rate of 15 feet a day (a mile a year) -- at that rate, creatures living on the South Dakota border  will move through ND to the Canadian border in about 240 years.

The national “wellbeing” statistics are out and you will not be surprised to find Hawaii in the lead.  Tropical, balmy, relaxed Hawaii.  Who’s next?  Cold, windy, conservative North Dakota.  If you want to avoid poor wellbeing, stay away from W. Virginia and Kentucky -- they have a lock on the bottom.

Allright!  Pam Sharp, ND’s budget director, was named the “Outstanding CPA in State Government” by the American Institute of CPAs at a Washington ceremony.  We love CPAs.

DAKTOIDS:  The U.S. Dept. of Energy reports oil production in ND is increasing while production in Alaska and California is declining.  ND may become the nation’s second largest producer . . . Oops!  People are hearing about this year’s flooding and weather in ND -- tourism in Jamestown is down 28 percent from last year. 

Just a few months ago, Minot was one of the most optimistic small cities in the country.  It was a success by almost every indicator: employment, real estate values, business investment and population growth.  The city was eagerly anticipating its two signature events -- the State Fair and the Norsk Hstfest.  Today, almost all of that is turned upside down -- the city is a FEMA disaster site -- the physical, economic and emotional damage from the flood remains to be determined.  There is speculation Minot may have been hit harder than Grand Forks in 1997.  With great will, the city will recover, but recovery will be measured in years not months. 

Justice comes slowly in Minot.  In January, four American Indians were killed in what appeared to be closely related murders.  Police have arrested Omar Kalmio, a Somali national with a violent criminal record, for killing Sabrina Zephier, the mother of his child and one of the four victims.  Kalmio is not considered an “official suspect” in the killing of Sabrina’s brother, mother and mother’s boyfriend.  A Minot police captain said summer flooding in Minot may have delayed Kalmio’s arrest.

According to oil rig co-workers, Kalmio said that Zephier was “ruining his life, getting pregnant on purpose, always taking his money and he was sick of it.”  The day following her murder, Kalmio told a co-worker “his baby mamma was dead.”

A section headed “HIGHER EDUCATION” on the GF Herald website included only the pictures of Nicholas Spaeth and Dr. Richard McCallum.  Readers digging further may have been surprised by what they learned.  Dr. McCallum was asked to resign his position as president of Dickinson State because he cooked the enrollment books, creating 180 fictional students.  Spaeth had a different problem, the 61-year-old attorney had applied for teaching positions at more than 100 law schools and was turned down by all of them.  Spaeth, a former ND attorney general, did not take the rejections lying down -- he filed over 100 age bias complaints.

“If financing can be finalized” was a key phrase in a Jamestown Sun article about a $100 million new ethanol plant.  Great River Energy has a coal-fired power plant near Jamestown and now plans a 60-million-gallon-per-year corn ethanol facility using waste steam from the power plant.  The plant is expected to be ready in the fall of 2013 and will require 21 million bushels of corn -- the majority of corn production within 30 miles of the plant.

A Sun photo showed Whitney Carlson in her family’s kitchen -- the table was groaning with plaques, trophies and awards.  Carlson holds six track records at NDSU where she was a 4.0 student and NCAA Div 1 All-American.  She will be entering dental school in Lincoln, Nebraska and preparing for the Olympic tryouts next summer in Eugene, Oregon.  The article said Carlson will “go down as one of the state’s best track and field performers ever.”  The Sun boasted Carlson was the latest in a tradition of great athletes from the Jamestown area: Darin Erstad and Travis Hafner (baseball), Jim Kleinsasser (football), and Jeff Boschee (basketball).  Like Kleinsasser, Carlson attended Carrington High School.  The article said despite her achievements “Carlson remains a humble, down-to-earth farm girl” who perfected her running stride atop hay bales -- each bale the perfect length for a stride.

Speaking of Kleinsasser, we are used to hearing him described in terms such as “The Man’s a Beast.”  Jimmy K. is going into his 13th season with the Vikings and he’s the team’s senior member.   The Minneapolis Star Tribune sought the veteran’s views on Vikings quarterbacks from the past 12 seasons.  Kleinsasser opined on quarterbacks from Randall Cunningham (“pure athlete”) to Brett Favre (“great guy” who “had plenty left”).  Kleinsasser emerged as intelligent and analytic, completely comfortable handling a lengthy interview.

River flooding in Minot and Bismarck crowds the news, but in many parts of ND there are serious, evolving, but less publicized cases of overland flooding.  The small town of Kensal (160) is on the Canadian Pacific railroad about 20 miles southeast of Carrington.  For years the area around Kensal has become more and more like a wetland.  Recently, in a period of three weeks the area received from 20 to 30 inches of rain.  The fire department pumped day and night to evacuate standing water from the town into nearby sloughs.  Roads are underwater, some for as much as half a mile.  The same rains undermined the CP tracks causing a train to lose two locomotives and 25 of its 90 cars about five miles from Kensal near the James River crossing.

Sixty years ago Crystal Springs was another smelly alkali flat along Highway 10 between Bismarck and Jamestown.  Today, Crystal Springs is a 134 acre lake that threatens I-94 and the BNSF railroad, both are being raised in separate multimillion dollar projects.

The superintendent of T. Roosevelt National Park reminded everyone that the erosion process creating the beautiful badlands is constant.  She said that the scenic drive near the Little Missouri River in the north part of the park is closed because of landslides.  To the east, Highway 22 near its Little Missouri crossing has been closed by landslides for the balance of the year.  Hwy 22 is a heavily used north-south route from Coal Country to the Ft. Berthold Reservation.  Detours can add two hours to a one-way trip.  This would be a significant disruption anytime, but is now compounded by heavy oil industry traffic.

Is it monstrous overreach?  Three young brothers from Starkweather, ND (about 25 miles north of Devils Lake) have begun a 20,000 mile bicycle trip from Anchorage, Alaska to Argentina.  They are farm boys ages 19-22 -- two have Dartmouth educations, the youngest just graduated from high school.  They are not without cycling experience -- the middle brother crossed North America by bike.  They will have no support vehicles, planning to carry their own camping equipment and supplies -- much of it donated by Scheels All-Sports.  Another company furnished the bikes.  The trip will take the better part of a year -- they hope to arrive in Argentina in May 2012.  It’s difficult to sustain physical and mental condition for such a long period.

DAKTOIDS: Columnist Lloyd Omdahl contends ND has the largest legislature in the country, calculated on a per capita basis.  The ND senate is larger than that of California . . . An August issue of Fortune magazine profiles EOG (formerly Enron Oil and Gas) -- the article says that primarily as a result of Bakken oil production in ND, EOG may become the second-or third-largest producer in the U.S.

The tragedies in Oslo, Norway are followed with special interest in ND.  U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, himself of Norwegian ancestry, said, “A third of North Dakotans claim Norwegian heritage, and many of our citizens have family members still living in Norway.”  Both ND senators are members of the Senate Norway Caucus.

A Minot Daily News editorial listed big decisions that Minot leaders need to make soon.  A mightier dike system was No. 1, followed by the possible need for additional new bridges to provide emergency routes.  The editorial also said Minot faces excruciating decisions about eliminating “many homes . . . along the Souris River that should never have been built there.”

Post-flood problems in Minot are huge -- peeling the onion reveals one new problem after another.  The Minot Daily News reported a problem nobody anticipated: Ward County Sheriff Steve Kukowski said workers arriving from Central America are being followed by a sinister criminal element that includes members of international drug cartels and gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13.  "They prey on these people that travel around, just like a carnival," Kukowski said.  He is seeking help from the Border Patrol because most of the workers are Spanish-speaking.

In mid-July, “dew point” became a big part of conversations in ND.  Dew point is the temperature at which saturation (dew) occurs.  The NWS meteorologist in Bismarck said, "A dew point of 60 feels pretty humid in North Dakota and in the 70s is fairly unusual. Having dew points in the upper 70s happens maybe once a decade or even less than that."  He was talking about a dew point of 82 degrees recently recorded in parts of the state.  There was slim consolation -- corn and soybeans love such weather.

Why pick Fargo?  A Forum article indicated a Boeing 787 Dreamliner was conducting test flights at the Fargo airport to see how the plane’s automated landing feature functioned in crosswind landings.  A separate Forum article indicated winds exceeding 60 mph tore away parts of some large apartment complexes.

Hansen and Monson were playing basketball and  . . .  does that sound like the start of a joke about Norwegians?  Glenn Hansen and Reed Monson are believed to be the greatest all-time basketball players in Grand Forks history.  The 6-foot-5 men went to different GF high schools and played against each other in the 1970 ND Class A championship.  In the offseason they practiced together, including working out with UND star and eventual hall of fame coach Phil Jackson.  According to the GF Herald, both men had successful careers in college and professional basketball.

The Fighting Sioux controversy usually receives little coverage outside ND and western Minnesota.  But a news article with a sufficiently provocative lead may grab national attention.  Fargo Forum sports writer Dave Kolpak’s article began: “North Dakota political leaders are asking the NCAA to back off and let the state’s flagship university keep its Fighting Sioux nickname and logo, even at the risk of potential blacklisting and scorn by other universities and its own conference.”  “Blacklisting” and “scorn” may have done it, for the Associated Press article, complete with UND’s colorful Fighting Sioux logo, appeared in newspapers across the country.

As mentioned earlier, the nearly half of ND college students that come from out-of-state cost Nodaks big bucks.  Tom Dennis of the GF Herald put a smiley face on the matter saying that “o-o-s” students fill classrooms, boost college town economies, sometimes stay after graduation and are helping Fargo recover from the gloomy image bestowed by the 1996 movie “Fargo.”  Worthy observations, but is Dennis’ cheerful view overly influenced by the fact that UND and its many “o-o-s” students are a mainstay of GF’s rather flat economy?

Aaron Krauter is a political appointee heading the federal Farm Service Agency in ND.  Farmers gulped when Krauter described the extent of federal ag programs in the state.  ND received nearly $1 billion from such programs in 2010.  Another disclosure, the federal government subsidizes 68 percent of the cost of crop insurance.  The president of the ND Farmers Union doubts these programs can continue at past levels.

USDA Rural Development State Director Jasper Schneider, also a political appointee, said it is a necessity for rural residents to have their own grocery store.  He awarded a $70,000 grant for a community grocery store in Buffalo, a town of 200 only 20 miles from Casselton.  Lest there be any confusion, such programs have bipartisan support in ND.  Community grants are another type of handout which may be jeopardized by federal budget cuts.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on the Spirit Lake Reservation for another USDA project.  A $3 million elderly complex will be financed by a $200,000 USDA loan, with the remaining funds provided by “congressional earmarks.”  Hospitals, grocery stores and elderly housing are a few examples of how far USDA strays from its core mission.

The Mystic Lake Casino is just a little south of the Twin Cities and is one of the nation’s most prosperous Indian casinos.  The casino is operated by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux, a tribe of less than 500 people eager to maintain good political standing.  As a result, they have an active charitable program which makes multimillion dollar gifts and loans -- mostly to less fortunate tribes.  The Shakopee have $50 million of loans to the Three Affiliated Tribes at the Ft. Berthold Reservation in ND.

Moe is your friend.  Moe is Muhannad Tahtamouni and he sold used cars in Grand Forks doing business as “Moe’s Motors.”  Immigrants from the Middle East were referred to friendly Moe by his wife Carrie who worked at a refugee center.  Moe is charged with multiple counts of felony fraud as well as other crimes.  Thamir Kadhim was an especially indulgent victim -- he was ripped off three times by Moe.  Kadhim used to say, “He (Moe) is my friend.  I needed to help him,” plus he speaks Arabic and is a fellow Muslim.  Kadhim has changed his tune, says he no longer believes Moe and is impatient with the slowness of American justice.  Kadhim said where he comes from Moe would be in jail.    

DAKTOIDS:  How unusual were the 2011 Souris River floods?  The U.S. Geological Survey said more water passed through the river near Sherwood in one day “than passed there during the entire year for 45 of the 82 previously recorded years.”

What does it take to become head of emergency services and flood recovery in ND?  Answer: you should be a Major General and your last name must be almost unpronounceable.  Maj. Gen. David Spryncznatyk heads state emergency services, while Maj. Gen. Murray Sagsveen heads state flood recovery.  They had bad news for Minot flood victims.  In Minot, 4,100 structures were affected by flooding of which 3,200 are extensively damaged, including 800 completely damaged. Only $40-50 million of FEMA money is available for those homes -- meaning the majority must move ahead with limited assistance.  Sagsveen said, “That money isn’t even close . . . there’s no point in comparing Minot to Grand Forks . . . I know this is a difficult fact.” 

The news for flooded farmers was not much better.  State Ag Commissioner Doug Goehring said that nearly 6.5 million acres are affected by flooding and wet weather.  Think of it this way --- 6.5 million acres is about 10,000 square miles.  The majority of that acreage doesn’t qualify for federal disaster programs.

The Northern Plains Electric Cooperative headquartered in Carrington is ND’s geographically largest electrical coop.  N. Plains serves the Highway 281 corridor from Jamestown to the Canadian border.  Unfortunately, the northern part of the corridor is smack in the line of Devils Lake flooding.  The coop finds itself regularly dropping service to individual farmers as their properties are lost to the lake.  The coop currently has 90 miles of line in water -- the lines serve 100 customers.  If the lake rises further, 200 miles of line serving 450 customers will be in water.

You’ve heard about properties around the nation which are "under water," that is, the value of a mortgaged property is less than its mortgage.  But properties in Minot were literally under water.  Banking officials are cautioning owners of flood-damaged homes not to give up and walk away before they have fully considered their options.  A Minot credit union is advising that help may be available and homeowners should not panic and ruin their credit.

Jamestown is warming up for a lurid trial.  Although the city has few black residents, it may now have its first “black-on-black” murder.   “Ra Ra” Howard (34) is a black Jamestown resident with a criminal record from Minnesota; he is charged with murdering Abdi Ali Ahmed, an 18-year-old Somali refugee.  Howard’s white girl friend, Janelle Cave (22), is also accused in the death.  Kayla Zimney of Buchanan (a neighboring town) is pregnant by Howard -- she is alleged to have been involved in disposing of evidence.  The Jamestown Sun has yet to spell out the relationships and backgrounds of the victim and the three individuals tied to the crime.

Lutheran Social Services receives both praise and criticism for what some see as misguided efforts to place African refugees in ND.  A different LSS activity, Lutheran Disaster Response, gets unanimous praise.  LDR is organizing thousand of volunteers to help with Minot flooding.  Bonnie Turner heads the effort; she says her army will focus on “cut and muck,” cutting out wet drywalls and carpet and removing muck from basements.

Gov Jack Dalrymple appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” (an investment show) to discuss ND’s economic accomplishments.  ND definitely deserves credit, but at a time of huge federal deficits, the state still relies heavily on federal money.  Near the time of the governor’s appearance, it was announced that the federal Education Department was funding a replacement for a flood threatened school in Minnewaukan ($10.5 million), another federal agency was raising the road to Grahams Island State Park ($15 million), and USDA Rural Development was behind stimulus package financing for 88 percent of a new $52 million regional medical center in Jamestown.  The center has a $25 million annual budget and 240 employees, it will be nice for Jamestown, but will pull business from smaller communities in the region.

Mississippi and Colorado remain kings of fat and thin, respectively.  MS held its crown as the most obese state (35%); CO was the least (20%).  ND and SD lie pretty much in between -- SD was ranked 17th (29%), while ND was 21st (28%).  Two-thirds of the adults in both Dakotas were overweight.  Neighboring states of Minnesota and Montana were both in the quartile with the lowest level of obesity.  MS is in a cluster of south central states which are especially obese; most of those states have large black populations -- the obesity rate for blacks was over 40% in 15 states.

I wouldn’t blame readers for concluding this newsletter overweights the UND Fighting Sioux issue.  Yes, it intrigues me, but the attention given this complex and emotional issue, particularly in eastern ND, is hard to overstate.  For example, on Sunday, July 10, the majority of the letters in the GF Herald were about the issue.  One stood out -- ND University System Chancellor Bill Goetz emerged from relative silence to lambast Herald Editor Mike Jacobs for an earlier column.  Jacobs deserves credit for biting his lip and publishing the letter, since it ripped him from one end to the other.  Goetz said Jacobs’ comments (about Goetz) risked “crossing the line between editorializing and gossiping.”

The nickname issue is obviously largest in Grand Forks, but on the Sunday mentioned above the Fargo Forum also had Fighting Sioux letters.  In addition, a commentary by Ross Nelson castigated UND President Robert Kelley for cowering before the nickname issue.  Nelson said the NCAA’s position is demonstrably wrong, “What if Kelley and others fought back?  What if they campaigned to inform the world?”  Nelson said UND should “stand up and fight the lies and take the consequences” -- he believes “the sports tail (and money) wags the academic dog.”

DAKTOIDS: The ND State Fair in Minot is the state’s largest public event.  Officials hoped to salvage a downsized 2011 fair, but the flood aftermath became too much and the fair has been canceled . . . Dickinson had 18,000 residents in the 2010 census.  The ambitious city expects its 2015 population to reach 25,000 . . . On July 4, a Fargo man obtained an illegal piece of commercial fireworks and blew his head off.  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is on the case.

Just as you think (or hope) the Fighting Sioux matter has calmed -- the controversy lurches in a new direction.  At the end of June, 15 former presidents of the UND Alumni Association or the UND Foundation boards signed a letter declaring “that the Fighting Sioux nickname must be retired quickly.”  Their reasons were varied and often bitter.  David Iverson, author of the letter, said “Most, but not all of us, would have wished to see the nickname continue.”  Iverson characterized the NCAA as misguided, “but the reality is we need the NCAA more than they need us.”  Bismarck attorney Morris Tschider said signing the letter was “extremely difficult.”  He said “In 50 years of association with the university, I never saw or heard anything negative relating to the nickname.  This is going down because the Standing Rock Tribal Council refuses to allow the people to vote, and the position of the NCAA is ridiculous.”

Former governor Ed Schafer is also ready to throw in the towel, but said the NCAA position is “pure political correctness, not at all grounded in true philosophy.  It’s stupid.”

State Rep. Al Carlson, the author of legislation requiring UND to keep the Fighting Sioux nickname, has not been shy about associating UND President Robert Kelley with nickname opponents.  Kelley has undoubtedly been wounded by those generally unproven assertions.  In an editorial headed “Let’s play turnabout with Al Carlson,” Herald Editor Mike Jacobs explores unproven theories about Carlson.  Jacobs edged close to terminal cuteness when he said, “Still, I am more charitable toward Carlson than other critics.”

When Grand Forks had its disastrous 1997 flood, the city found it hard to stay out of the news.  A simultaneous flood and fire made for great stories and photos.  Later, GF became a poster child for successful disaster recovery -- for turning a lemon into lemonade.  Ever since, flooded communities have come to GF for counsel.  Minot is the latest.  A Herald article by Ryan Bakken notes GF was one of the first modern era communities to have such extensive flooding and the city benefited from many types of assistance.  Pat Owens, GF mayor at the time of the flood, says “Times are different” and Minot will likely have a difficult time attracting the same level of attention and aid.  The nation has disaster fatigue and fiscal stress.

Add one more project to the list of misspending due to reluctance to lower Devils Lake.  The road to Grahams Island State Park, now swamped by the lake, will be raised six feet at a cost of $15 million.  Like many before, the decision was easy because 80% of the cost is covered by the federal government.  Grahams Island is the state’s most popular park.

Columnist Lloyd Omdahl draws on his substantial experience in state government to analyze current political issues.  Some of his columns are also humorous accounts of a fictional small ND town and its Norwegian residents.  But in a July column, “In the future, there may not be a future,” Omdahl is nearly apocalyptic.  He said in the past it was largely lower class people who could think only of the present, but now all segments of society have a “I want it now” consumerism attitude.  He calls them “present-oriented” people who are an uninformed electorate, spendthrifts, dumbing down education and recklessly using energy.  Omdahl believes hard decisions are needed: “God has not guaranteed our existence in perpetuity.”

Properly responding to Omdahl’s concerns requires a certain absurdity, to paraphrase: “We must dislike the kind of people we’ve become.”

Bismarck schools got their first woman superintendent.  Tamara Uselman is new to Bismarck and was surprised by the attitude of people with flooded homes: “Everyone seems more concerned for people who appear to have it worse off than they do.”

The new Dunn County road superintendent came up with a compelling idea for repairing roads destroyed by oil development.  Every new well drilled involves 2,000 semi-truck trips.  Before a well is drilled, the county will enter an agreement where the developer agrees to restore related roads to their original condition -- a condition that will be documented by a pre-use inspection involving all parties.  The contract makes the oil industry a partner in road maintenance.  This idea seems likely to become a model for other oil counties.

For the moment, a Minot mutual fund sits near the top of the Wall Street hill.  Integrity Williston Basin (ICPAX) is the Wall Street Journal’s best one-year peformer among diversified domestic stock mutual funds.  The flood could not drown this fund, at June 30 the return for the last year was 72.5%.  As you might expect, the fund is largely invested in energy companies.

About ten years ago, I drove around Williston.  My recollection: it was one of the least attractive cities in ND.  There was a sprawl of idle industrial properties dotted by dreary fast food franchises and trailer homes.  This was a legacy of the earlier oil boom in the Williston Basin -- something hadn’t gone well.  Williston is very mindful of that experience as it attempts to deal with the current oil boom.  The city has a new master plan, but the Williston Daily Herald contends Williston is behind the curve in interpreting and enforcing the new plan.

Cirrus Industries is a Duluth manufacturer of light planes with a branch in Grand Forks.  Cirrus has just entered into an ironic contract to supply 25 training planes to the Air Force Academy in Colorado.  What is the irony?  Cirrus has been purchased by an arm of the Chinese government which, among its many activities, makes military and commercial aircraft.

MORE MINOT: Before losing schools for 1,000 students to the floods, Minot schools were already packed because of the oil boom . . . Same story on hotels and housing -- oil workers  had taken all the slack out of the market . . . Minot State is worried about availability of off-campus housing this fall . . . FEMA plans clusters of housing trailers in Minot -- several developments, each with 150-200 units . . .  Stop building your float -- the July State Fair Parade in Minot has been canceled. 

DAKTOIDS: ND has thousands of job openings -- contrary to common belief, only one-third are in the oil fields.

“The city of Minot will never be the same.  It can't be.  The residents will return, whether it be in days, weeks or months. They will return to destroyed homes and shattered lives. But we have no doubt that they will return.  They are, after all, Minoters and North Dakotans.” -- Editorial in the Minot Daily News.  The national news media found Nodaks hard to fathom and slightly unbelievable.  Almost every article and broadcast noted the astonishing spirit and cooperation.  One oft repeated story was about a Minot family that had just lost their home -- they  hurried to Velva, the next larger town downriver, to help with evacuations.  Nodaks are people that have a tradition of coming together to fight drought, blizzards, and everything nature and man throws at them.

If you would like to help Minot flood victims, you can direct donations to the Mid-Dakota Chapter of American Red Cross, P.O. Box 456, Minot ND 58702.

Since March, each of ND’s six largest cities experienced major flooding or worse.  Since 1993, 27 presidential disaster declarations have been issued for ND -- every year during that time, except 2008.

Even if a second Devils Lake pumping outlet becomes operational, there is still a 15% chance of a natural overflow by 2015.  In the absence of any pumping, there is a 30% of a 2015 overflow.  These estimates were made by the U.S. Geological Survey.  A west end outlet is now operating at a cost of up to $400,000 a month.  An uncontrolled overflow could be catastrophic for downstream cities  such as Valley City and Lisbon.

“It makes more sense to begin to manage the level of Devils Lake now from where we are, rather than waiting until we have an impending disaster.  We are hopeful that our downstream neighbors will recognize the value of beginning to manage Devils Lake in this way.”  Gov. Jack Dalrymple laying the political groundwork for a gravity-flow outlet from Stump Lake (an appendage of Devils Lake) through the Tolna Coulee to the Sheyenne River.

Before the Minot flooding, three giraffes, two lions, two tigers and two leopards skipped town.  The beasts are calmly waiting out the flood in a wildlife park in Wichita, Kansas.  The Minot zoo is flooded -- officials wisely evacuated the animals in early June.

The People of ND vs. the Usual Suspects.  Who stirred up the Big Sky Conference about the UND Fighting Sioux nickname?  It’s not a surprise to learn that Tex Hall, chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes, is involved; Sharon Carson, a UND professor of English, may be another.  The GF Herald reports that state Rep. Al Carlson is pursuing the possibility that UND President Robert Kelley may have been working against the name behind the scenes.  He has obtained Kelley’s e-mail exchanges with Big Sky and the NCAA.  Kelley has been cautioned by Grant Shaft of the Board of Higher Education that his recent comments about the name may have gone too far -- the same caution has gone to certain other members of the UND administration.  This is a rapidly evolving story that is neither clear nor ended.  A spokesman said Kelley “has no more to say at this time.” 

Next year, Nodaks will vote on eliminating property taxes -- a difficult issue to understand from afar.  In a long, confusing column, GF Herald economist Ralph Kingsbury argued that property taxes should be abolished.  He thinks people in ND with high incomes but modest property holdings are avoiding paying their fair share of taxes.  Who does he have in mind?  Doctors, other highly paid professionals, as well as college professors, school administrators and so on.  Oh, yes, he hasn’t forgotten about “out-of-state oil types” who walk away with monthly royalty checks.  

Wind and ice frequently knock out ND power lines, so why aren’t the lines underground?  The big reason is cost -- underground is 2-3 times more expensive than overhead, but there is another reason you may not have thought about -- underground cables act as lightning rods, attracting strikes that blow the cables.

Is there a shortage of book learning in the ND Legislature?  And does it make any difference?  The Chronicle of Higher Education says the education level of state legislators is 40th in the country.  Many of ND’s part-time legislators have farm management backgrounds and bring a great deal of practical experience, common sense and natural intelligence to their legislative duties.  ND has the lowest percentage of any state of lawmakers who are lawyers.  Now, if the state only had more lawyers making laws, like California and Minnesota, ND could share those states’ sterling results.

Be careful about retiring in Minnesota.  Kiplinger picked the Gopher State as the second least tax friendly state for retirees.

Bismarck-Mandan has been dodging waves of the Missouri River.  Tribune Editor John Irby spotted another threat -- a wave of stupidity.  In his editorial, “Stupid is as stupid does,” Irby listed the many ways B-M residents turned June into stupid month:  A couple went at each other with cars, turning a front lawn into a demolition derby.  A misogynistic man choked one woman while punching another.  It wasn’t just men -- a woman convicted of beating her boyfriend with a metal pipe came back to finish him off by stabbing him in the neck.  And so on, you get the drift --  flooding affects some people this way.

Forum columnist Tammy Swift hears way too much whining and believes a little tough-love is in order.  She proposes a self-help book, an Upper-Midwestern German-Russian guide to emotions -- she even suggests a title: “Snap Out of It, or I’ll Give You Something to Cry About.” 

Most Nodaks are modest, but there are exceptions.  Fargo Forum Editor Matt Von Pinnon seems to believe talk show host and former legislator Joel Heitkamp may be one.  In a self-revealing moment, Heitkamp said: “I mean, I know I’m a talk show host. But I’m also somebody who, if I chose to tomorrow, could be one of the top-running politicians in the state in terms of endorsements and in terms of opportunity, and be one of the 100 people in this nation to serve in the United States Senate.”  Gentlemen, start your engines.

Silly but tragic.  Over and over again, Nodaks stage spectacular crashes in the middle of the night.  Latest example: two Carrington drivers did a beautiful head-on after midnight on a rural road.  Both men went to the hospital, neither wore seatbelts and one was charged with DUI.  This may have something to do with ND being number two in the nation in per capita beer consumption.

DAKTOIDS:  Over 4,000 homes in Minot have been flood damaged -- less than 10% had flood insurance . . . Minot’s mayor announced that over 800 of the damaged homes will likely be demolished . . . Let him eat cake: grateful Velva residents bought cake for their dike contractor.

It’s May -- time for ND flooding worries to abate.  Oops, maybe not.  Montana has unmelted snow which was about 140 percent of normal in mid-May.  The National Weather Service says the runoff will be “sensational” and will enter ND via the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers eventually raising Lake Sakakawea.  

The Souris River arises in Canada, flows south through Minot before making a sharp U-turn near Velva and heading back to Canada.  In mid-May the NWS said, “Minot and other Souris River locations should remain prepared for one of the lengthiest high water events in history.”

Wells is a mid-sized county in central ND -- the county has 200 roads which are damaged or under water.  For residents of Hurdsfield, a 40-mile trip to Carrington now includes a 50-mile detour through Harvey.  Wells is one of 39 ND counties and three Indian reservations which have been declared a federal disaster area and will be eligible for financial assistance to repair infrastructure.  

A Forum editorial said the pleas of Devils Lake residents for relief from flooding have been met only with “polite nods and words of understanding” from federal officials.  Sen. Kent Conrad cried foul, “The fact is more than $900 million in federal resources have been brought to the Devils lake area.”  And the senator said more was on the way.  Devils Lake residents planned a massive rally to build support for opening the Tolna Coulee, the natural outlet to the Sheyenne River.  They claim the cost would be “peanuts.”

Call it what you want.  U.S. Senate legislation co-sponsored by Sen. Conrad (and other Corn Belt senators) is billed as a plan to end ethanol production subsidies in five years.  Opponents see it differently -- as a ruse to extend expiring subsidies for five years.

President Obama and Congressional Democrats want to eliminate tax breaks for the oil industry.  One such provision allows oil companies to immediately deduct 70 percent of the cost of drilling new oil wells.  New wells in ND cost millions of dollars each and the deduction is critical, particularly, for smaller oil development companies.  Ron Ness, president of the ND Petroleum Council, said the loss of tax breaks would harm production, “This is a huge issue for the Bakken.”  Sen. Conrad leans against incentives; Sen. Hoeven leans the other way.

“It’s reached a critical point for NDSU,” said President Dean Bresciani.  “We have nothing left to cut.”  Bresciani wanted a waiver from the Board of Higher Ed for a 9 percent tuition increase.  Bresciani said “It’s actually a fairly modest increase.”  The Minot Daily News said “that depends on who you ask.” Likening NDSU to a spoiled child, MDN urged the board to reject the increase.  The BOHE approved NDSU’s request.  The Bismarck Tribune labeled the action “irresponsible,” while the Fargo Forum welcomed the board’s decision to “defy the governor and Legislature.”  The scene is set for a further fight over the role of the BOHE. 

The website for the ND Newspaper Association has the following: “NDNA represents its members and the public in legislative affairs -- protecting the public’s right-to-know through open public meetings and open public records.”  But try and find out who won awards at the association’s annual meeting in Grand Forks in May.  Each newspaper highlights its own awards (if it did well), but is mum about other winners.  You will be glad to know all the newspapers encourage open records and good sportsmanship.

Herald columnist Ralph Kingsbury says Grand Forks has economic equilibrium -- not too hot, and not too cold, but is more dependent than ever on energy and aviation initiatives at UND.  Bismarck, says Kingsbury, is the chosen one.  Though not in oil country, Bismarck benefits greatly from both energy spending and the accompanying expansion in state government.

One of the reasons the GF area population has flattened is increased use of technology in agriculture production and processing.  American Crystal, the largest beet sugar producer in the U.S., says each shift in its East GF plant requires only 30 people -- thirty years ago 100 would have been needed.  American Crystal is retraining its work force to improve their understanding of production control technologies.

Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District served by Rep. Collin Peterson is a north-south district adjoining ND’s Red River Valley.  This has been a convenient arrangement for the two states to cooperate on issues such as flood control and agriculture.  A proposed redistricting in Minnesota creates rural districts crossing the state from east to west.  Under this proposal, two districts will adjoin ND.  The plan faces opposition from Minnesota Democrats and the governor, because they believe it was intended to create a safe Republican district.. 

AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY:  Roger Yankton Sr. became the new chairman of the Spirit Lake Reservation, receiving more votes than his nephew, who is academic dean at the tribal college.  United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck has an annual budget of $30 million and about 340 full-time students -- that’s an annual cost of about $88,000 per student.  To put it in a harsher light, the two-year college graduates about 110 students annually -- roughly $270,000 per graduate.  Don’t worry, it’s only federal money.

In a year of rising federal deficits, the USDA is giving the Standing Rock Reservation $5 million to improve beef production.  Like many federal programs, this one has a way of spreading out -- it’s characterized as an experiment which aims to involve high school students and “help get them into college.”  Sioux County is entirely on the Standing Rock Reservation and was one of the few ND counties supporting Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

The state has a very complicated formula for allocating oil tax revenues, which are expected to be about $2 billion in the fiscal 2011-13 biennium.  The Office of Management and Budget has prepared a multicolored chart to help mortals follow the process.  It’s cool -- the chart has dozens of boxes identifying at least ten funds, and arrows pointing in four directions -- unfortunately, only a few people will be able to understand it.

The Herald reported, “The growing number of Somali immigrants moving into Grand Forks has begun to trigger fear and anger among some residents.”  The city of GF will show a film about Somali immigrants to facilitate an open discussion of the rising conflict.

"I'm from Siberia, but it's the same."  You didn’t hear this from the ND Chamber of Commerce, it was Alexey Borisenko, a Russian engineer working in the Oil Patch.  He was commenting on the May blizzard which shut down almost all oil production. 

Should the BNSF tracks between Devils Lake and Rugby be repaired with public money to accommodate Amtrak service to those towns and Grand Forks?  Check the numbers -- only 15-20 passengers a day board Amtrak in Rugby and Devils Lake.  Because of rising water near the lake, over $100 million of repairs is likely to be needed to maintain Amtrak service through the two towns.  Although BNSF owns the track, the railroad no longer uses the threatened track, instead providing service from each side.  If upgrades were made, service would be interrupted for two years and the Empire Builder would be rerouted directly from Minot to Fargo.  How would you make this call?

Valley City is in the flooding bull’s-eye -- water is pouring down the Sheyenne River and releases have been increased at Baldhill Dam (upstream from the city).  The City Administrator said, “It’s the volume of the water that’s coming down the river.  It’s just historic.”  Flows in upstream towns Warwick and Cooperstown exceed 2009 levels -- a year when V.C. had significant flood damage.

Road maps show a gently curving Sheyenne River south of Valley City.  My wife and I drove through the scenic valley last fall and the river is anything but gently curving.  It’s a snaky series of oxbows -- the river keeps meeting itself.  Virgil and Tami Kratz are residents of the little valley and are surrounded by water, living with stress and anxiety on an island -- the couple said, “Someone needs to let ‘the powers that be’ know that having two ‘500-year floods’ within two years really doesn’t make for good math!”

The Fargo Forum issued a grim warning about Devils Lake saying consequences of its rise could be very serious for the cities in the Sheyenne River drainage: Valley City, Lisbon, W. Fargo and Fargo.  While the lake level is still several feet from breakout at the Tolna Coulee, erosion in the coulee could cause an earlier event.  The Forum said, “Rising water at Devils Lake cannot be viewed as exclusively a Devils Lake problem.”

You will find Stanley about halfway between Williston and Minot.  In 2000 the population was 1,280; by 2010 it had risen to 1,450.  The Mountrail County town is in the heart of oil country.  Annabelle Homes, a Minneapolis developer, will build 25 townhomes and 28 houses in Stanley, plus various commercial buildings.  Instead of asking for city assistance, Annabelle is investing more than $800,000 of its own money in infrastructure and making other payments to the town for fire and safety services.

The Dickinson Press is near the Badlands in southwest ND and the Grand Forks Herald is way across the state in the northern Red River Valley.  Both are part of Forum Communications, but they presented differing views of the state’s two-year $1.5 billion transportation budget, which includes $370 million for roads damaged by oil traffic.  The Press’ message was go slow, spend wisely, all of this money may not be needed.  The Press believes more money should go into enforcement and prevention and approves of ideas such as Stark County buying a $40,000 scale to enforce weight restrictions -- “overweight trucks can do more damage in an afternoon than the price tag of the scales.” 

The Herald encouraged more paving, observing that western ND has few paved roads, “So, the traffic has hammered gravel roads, raising ceaseless clouds of dust when the weather is dry and turning some roads into nearly impassable mud holes when it’s wet.”  The Press went a different direction, “Sometimes gravel is easier to maintain than spending thousands to blacktop a path which will turn into dust after months of travel by these bulky vehicles.”  The Dickinson paper urged the state not to waste money, “Roads need to be fixed for long-term use and not short-term.”  The Press’ clear implication was that the state should not overreact to short-term problems caused by oil development and should keep its eye on the needs of the production economy which follows.

Direct federal payments to farmers remain popular in ND, but it is interesting to note what is being said elsewhere.  The Chicago Tribune, in an editorial reprinted in the Minneapolis StarTribune, said: “Time to sharpen the plow blades.  The nation’s farmers don’t need . . . the crass form of welfare known as ‘direct payments.’  These checks arrive rain or shine, good times or bad.”  The editorial described how times have been very good for farmers and went so far as to claim farmers could barely fit the cash into “the pockets of their dusty overalls.”  However, the farm lobby is tightly organized and politically well-represented with a long and successful record of defending subsidies.

Computers, the Internet and cell phones put rural ND in the mainstream of global communication.  Now it’s possible for rural people to establish niche businesses in a way never before possible.  A Carrington business called Healthy Oilseeds was picked 2010 ND Exporter of the Year.  Healthy Oilseeds is run by the Gussiaas family and exports flax and other specialty crops to customers in Europe and Asia.  The products are containerized in Carrington and trucked to Minneapolis and Minot for rail shipment to ports.  Roger Gussiaas sees value-added, export agriculture as a way of creating good jobs in small towns.

In 2009, the director of ND’s pension funds said a $138 million investment with Santa Barbara money managers was being frozen because of suspected fraud.  The ND funds recently announced they would be recovering all the principal invested with the managers plus some profit.  This will be no help to the funds’ 2009 director who committed suicide last year -- a subsequent audit found no wrongdoing on his part.  One of the two California money managers has pleaded guilty to fraud, the other has a pending trial.

Whitey’s Cafe in East Grand Forks is an institution on both sides of the Red River.  The Herald spoke of “the eatery’s storied past: its origins in the Prohibition era, and its reputation as a place where patrons once played slot machines.”  A place where “Legions of UND students earned their tuition money behind the horseshoe bar.”  Whitey’s has not done well lately and is up for public auction on May 15.

“Never the twain shall meet” -- Rudyard Kipling, 1892.  Tara Dupper, a resettlement coordinator for Lutheran Social Services in Grand Forks, said, “I think that communities are fortunate if they have a growing immigrant (refugee) population.”  A 2010 Knight Foundation survey in Grand Forks found “only 2 in 10 or fewer residents said Grand Forks was a good place to live for  . . . immigrants or racial and ethnic minorities.”

DAKTOIDS:  The flow of the Red River north of Grand Forks in April was the second-largest on record -- behind only the disastrous flood of 1997. 

The 2010 census data for ND highlights changes since the 2000 census.  Keep in mind that was a decade in which the state’s population started at 642,200, dipped, then rebounded to 672,600 by 2010, a gain of 30,400 -- nearly 5 percent.  Population gains in Fargo (15,000), West Fargo (10,900) and Bismarck (5,700) together exceeded the gain for the entire state.  Only 11 counties gained population, while 42 declined.  Significant population increases in the oil patch were just beginning in 2010 when the census was taken.  The Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area reached 174,000.  

The most surprising changes were demographic -- the state’s white population (excluding Hispanics) increased only 1.5 percent, while American Indians increased 17 percent and Hispanics 73 percent.  Blacks are still only 1.2 percent of the ND population, but their numbers doubled in the last decade -- this is due in part to African immigrants arriving in Fargo and Grand Forks.

 Joel Kotkin is an urbanologist who teaches and writes in Southern California -- despite his title and location he likes to write about North Dakota.  He is the author of a March Wall Street Journal article headed “Why North Dakota Is Booming.”  The article is a familiar litany to Nodaks:

“They’re drilling for oil, attracting high tech, and keeping the tax burden moderate.  Result: 3.85% unemployment.”  He says oil is the principal reason why ND “enjoys arguably the best fiscal situation in all the states,” but also attributes the state’s success to “sensible thinking.”

Because of ag and energy strength, compensation in some rural ND counties is nearing or exceeding that in ND urban counties.  At $75,000, average compensation in Oliver County (coal) is the highest in the state and 30th among over 3,100 counties in the U.S.   McLean, Billings, Mountrail and Mercer are energy counties where average compensation is on the rise.

Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway owns the BNSF Railway -- ND’s principal railroad.  In 2010, BNSF had outstanding earnings, much of it attributable to hauling coal.  BNSF also profits from oil production in ND.  About two dozen rail cars of material are required for each new well site.  Around 20 percent of the state’s oil production is shipped by rail; millions of dollars in rail infrastructure improvements are either underway or planned in the state.

A Bismarck Tribune column by Clay Jenkinson dwells on some of the ill effects of ND’s oil boom, including an increase in violent deaths.  In mid-March, a Texan murdered a Texan in Minot -- both were employees of Halliburton, an oil field service company.  The stabbing murder took place in a Minot conference room where both were working. 

There is a belief at the Fargo Forum, that an editorial point must be stated in the extreme -- otherwise, it may go unnoticed.  Here’s an example: “Fargo-Moorhead has one of the best -- if not the best -- small-city symphony orchestra in the United States.  Anyone who does not concur either doesn’t know music . . .”  How does anyone know where the symphony ranks, much less, the editorial staff at the Forum?  The F-M Symphony may be excellent and deserve strong community support, but surely that can be accomplished without unproven, parochial claims.

Jamestown Sun editors may have been exhausted after they issued the longest ever Saturday list of bravos (9) and buffalo chips (3).  They were especially annoyed by a proposed bill to allow minors in small ND towns to eat in bars.  Dripping with disdain, the Sun dismissed the whole matter: “Minors shouldn’t be in bars.”

The Bismarck Tribune was equally annoyed by a Legislative proposal to abolish the Board of Higher Education and the superintendent of public instruction.  The proposal would also eliminate references in the constitution to the 11 state colleges and universities and their locations.  The Tribune thought this was too much at one gulp, although they allowed getting the schools out of the constitution was worth discussing.

Opponents of the UND Fighting Sioux nickname believe the name dishonors Native Americans and the Sioux in particular.  Opponents are puzzled that the Spirit Lake Sioux voted to support the name by a 2:1 ratio, seemingly a paradox.  Supporters are not puzzled -- they have always believed the opposition is the product of a loud, politically correct minority that does not reflect the thinking of the majority of Sioux Indians.  Following is a quote from a letter to the Bismarck Tribune from a nickname opponent: “Most of North Dakota’s Native Americans suffer from a lack of self-esteem (some not even realizing it) as a result of derision cast upon them by others who deem themselves more perfect.”  The comment in parentheses is that of the writer saying to the Sioux that, in effect, “we know what is best for you.”

You will hear more about this:  A GF Herald article said planes owned by the UND Aerospace Foundation were used to fly UND President Robert Kelley, members of his administration and selected students to Bismarck to lobby against Fighting Sioux nickname legislation.  The angle: supporters of the nickname had no such opportunity to use taxpayer resources.  The matter is a hot topic on many blogs -- one blogger accuses Kelley of having “an agenda all along” to eliminate the nickname.  Administration officials say they are merely carrying out the edict of the Board of Higher Education

The Schemionek family lives in Dry Lake Township near Churchs Ferry.  The township is not dry and much of it is about to disappear in the waters of Devils Lake.  The Schemioneks used to farm 2,200 acres, they’ve lost over 1,700 and are about to lose the rest.  They and their neighbors are organizing a bus trip to Bismarck to make a plea to the Legislature for help.

DAKTOIDS: For those quaking in fear of earthquakes, ND is located in the seismically quietist portion of the North American continent . . . While you weren’t looking, West Fargo became the fifth-largest city in ND, doubling in size in the last decade.